Lordstown Calls Out The ‘Haters’ After Damaging Short-Seller Report

Lordstown Motors (RIDE) CEO has fired back at those that doubt the ambitions of the electric truck maker after a damaging short-seller report that claimed it faked orders in an attempt to mislead investors, sending its share price nosing diving this week.

As of mid-afternoon on Tuesday, the company’s stock was down nearly 6%.

Hindenburg Research released the short-seller report on Friday, claiming the electric truck maker’s 100,000 in reservations for the soon-to-be-released Endurance pickup truck weren’t actual orders, after receiving statements from former employees that alleged the company was three to four years behind schedule for the truck’s production.

The report from Hindenburg Research also suggested that Lordstown was misrepresenting non-binding reservations for the Endurance truck as orders when their origin may be unknown or solicited by a consultant that was paid per order placed.

Lordstown CEO Steve Burns told The Wall Street Journal that while the company does use consultants, but denied it misrepresented its preorder book.

“We are not stating these are orders and have never stated that,” he told the Journal.

But Burns maintains that it is just the “haters” against Lordstown, telling a group of reporters at a press conference at the automaker’s Lordstown, Ohio, factory on Monday, “There’s always haters. I quoted Taylor Swift to somebody the other day, ‘Haters going to hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. You gotta shake it off,’” WKBN, a CBS affiliate out of Youngstown, Ohio, reported.

Burns said the company is on target to begin production on the Endurance pickup truck in September.

He said at the press conference, according to WKBN: “I can’t speak to the Hindenburg report but I can tell you two things: we’re at betas in 10 days and we’re going to start production of the world’s first electric pickup truck. I know I say that a lot but think about the gravity of the world’s first electric pickup truck starting right here.”

This is not the first time that Hindenburg Research has made damaging claims against an EV maker as last year, the research firm accused EV startup Nikola was defrauding investors about the company’s technology in order to push the truck maker to the forefront of the market. The claims led to the exit of CEO and founder Trevor Milton.

Lordstown Motors said in a statement on Friday obtained by Fox News that it “will be sharing a full and thorough statement in the coming days, and when we do, we will absolutely be refuting the Hindenburg Research report.”

Shares of Lordstown Motors were trading at $15.31 as of $15.31, down 91 cents of 5.61%.